Folding rocking-chair.



No. 675,420. Patented June 4, I901.

M. L. SMITH.

FOLDING ROCKING CHAIR.

(Application filed Mar. 2, 1901.) (No Modell) Witnesses: Inventor I (/U- 3% 114.5311 tn? Attorney UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MARSHALL L. SMITH, OF CAMBRIDGE CITY, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- IIALF TO SIM CROCKETT, Ob SAME PLACE.

FOLDING ROCKING-cams.-

SPECIFICATIQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 675,420, dated June 4,1901.

Application filed March 2, 1901.

To all 7071,0711 it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DIARSHALL L. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing in Cambridge City, \Vayne county, Indiana, (post' office address Cambridge City, Indiana,) have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Folding ROQkingChairs, of which the following is a specification.

'lhisinvention, pertainingtoimprovements To in folding rocking'chairs, will be readily understood from the following descriptiomtakeu in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a folding rocking-chair embodying my improved construction, the chair appearing in normal condition foruse; Fig. 2, a side elevation of the chair when folded-; ind Fig. 3 a rear elevation at one of the sides-o2 the chair when in normal position.

As both sides of the chair are alike and involve the same articulated system of elements, one side only will be described, it therefore being understood that while the description 2'5 of these parts is in the singular it describes both sides.

Inthe drawings, 1 indicates the rocker; 2, the front leg, with its lower end pivoted to the forward end of the rocker, the leg projecting 0' up and diagonally to the rear and up above the seat far enough to form the side piece of the back of the chair; 3, the seat; 4, a pivot connecting the rear side portion of the seat with the leg 2 and permitting the'scat to be folded up flat against the front face of the chair-back; 5, the rear leg of the chair, being pivoted at the base of the leg, this leg cross; ing the front leg diagonally and projecting upwardly beyond the level of the seat; 6, a 0 pivot uniting the leg5 to the side edgeof the seated: a point about midway between the front and rear edges of the seat; 7, a link disposed between the two legs 2 and a} at their intersection; 8, apivot uniting the upper end of the link to the leg 2; 9, a pivot uniting the lower end of the link to leg 5; 10, a substantially horizontal slot extending through the rocker; 11, a pivot at the lower end of leg 5 and engaging within slot 10 and normally go resting in the rear end of that slot, but adapt- Serial No. 49,548. No model.)

ed, in folding the chair, to nfove forward in the slot, this pivot having, preferably, the form of a stretcher-rod extending across the structure to the opposite rocker, where it similarly acts as a pivot in a slot; 2, a bracket secured below the arm of the chair and provided with a substantially horizontal slot; 13,

a pivot carried by the upper end of leg 5 and engaging the slot in bracket 12 and normally restingin the frontend of said slot, but adapt- 6;: ed, in folding the chair, to slide back in the slot; 14, the arm which has just been referred to, the same being disposed substantially parallel with the seat and carrying the bracket 12; 15, a pivot uniting the rear end of the arm to leg 2 at a point some distance above pivot 4, and 16 the chair-back, illustrated as of open cross-slat and stick construction, extending across from side to side of the strum ture.

When the chair is in normal condition, as in Fig. 1, the strains are imposed rearwardly upon pivot 11 and forwardly upon pivotsf and 6. In the act of folding the chair the arm' 14: folds up alongside of and somewhat to the rear of the upper portion of leg 2, pivot 13 sliding downwardly in the slot of bracket 12. At the same time pivot 1l moves for ward'ly in slot 10 and lint: 7 turns upon its pivot 8 and takes a reverse position, the seat 3 folding up against the front of the chair= back and the leg 5 taking a position alongside leg 2.

The structure, while simple, is extremely substantial when in use byreason of the dist-ribution of the strains through the various joints, and in the act of folding the chair there is a substantial freedom from -'the erratic hitches and catches and misbehaviors usually found in chairs of this class.

I claim as myinvention- In a folding rocking-chair, the combina tion, substantially as set forth, of diagonal front legs extending upwardly beyond the seat, diagonal rear legs crossing the front legs and extending upwardly beyond the seat,

a seat pivoted at its rear to said front legs and pivoted to said rear legs at a point intermediate between its fro'nt and rear, links disposed between the legs at their intersections we l and having their upper ends pivoted to the front legs and their lower ends pivoted to the rear legs, makers having their forward ends pivoted to the lower extremities of the front legs enci having substantially horizontal slots in the intermediate portions of their length, pivots uniting the lower ends of the rear legs to the rockers at said. slots, arms disposed above the level of the seat and having their :0 rear ends pivoted to the front legs at points ere eeo above the met, horizontally-slotted brackets MARSHALL L. SMITH.

Vv i tnesses: t

J HN W. BEARS/0N, JACOB GRIESINGER. 

